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Happy Samhain! It is still considered 'Halloween' by many Celts and Pagans. As the day officially began when the sun sets. There is a sense of intensity of life and the passage of death. One of the aspects I most appreciate about the Celtic belief system is the way they honor death and believe it is part of the cycle we all must go through. Death is one stage in our grand journey, and was more celebrated than mourned. As it meant the soul was moving to a stage where they no longer worry about hunger, sickness or the other ills of life.

Perhaps that is why death and the Otherworld hold such a fascination to me. I'm a true believer in the afterlife, in karma and many other parallel worlds that exist while we are in this plane of existence. I also feel it is why certain objects can possess the energy of the departed. When I studied cultural anthropology, the thread of commonality through several large civilizations in guiding their dead through through the afterlife with weapons and jewelry as well as clay earthenware is profound.

I've often said that when I pass to the next world, I want to be put on a boat and set sail aflame as the Vikings once did. Death is not easy for those who are left living but if we change our perception of what it means, perhaps we can let go off our loved ones more easily.